Lauder, Leonard A.
type Collector Patron
dates 1934-
city New York City
stateNY
other citiesAspen, CO;
sex M
history Collector and chairman of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. Founded in 1946 by his mother, Estée Lauder. Mr. Lauder served as President of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. from 1972 to 1995 and as Chief Executive Officer from 1982 to 1999. He added the title of Chairman in 1995.

Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Whitney Museum of American Art, a Charter Trustee of The University of Pennsylvania, a Trustee of The Aspen Institute and the cofounder and director of the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation. He served as a member of the White House Advisory Committee on Trade Policy and Negotiations under President Reagan.

He was chief executive of Estée Lauder Companies until 1999; now he serves as chairman of the board. Today Estee Lauder dominates the prestige cosmetics industry with such brands as Estee Lauder, Clinique, MAC Cosmetics, Aveda, Bobbi Brown and Stila. Son William takes over as CEO in 2004. He is the son of Joseph and Estée Lauder, and the older brother of Ronald Lauder.

Leonard Lauder has long been a major benefactor of the Whitney Museum of American Art, where he has been chairman since 1994. He has donated both money and many works of art to the Whitney, and is the museum's most prolific fundraiser. The fifth floor permanent collection galleries are named for him and his wife, Evelyn. In 1998, he told a reporter for the New York Times that his "dream job" was to be the Whitney Museum's director.

Lauder began by buying Art Deco postcards when he was six, but his particular focus, rather than American works, is classic Cubist works by Picasso, Braque, Gris and Léger. Although focused on Cubists lauder's collecting includes 20th-century American art -- by Agnes Martin, Claes Oldenberg, Joseph Cornell, Robert Rauschenberg and Kenneth Noland.
decades1940-1950
1950-1960
1960-1970
1970-1980
1980-1990
1990-2000
2000-2010
websitehttps://www.metmuseum.org/metmedia/video/lauder-research-center/lauder-on-collecting
updated 10/31/2024 13:33:18
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Repository Description Links
Newberry Library
Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections
60 West Walton Street
Leonard A. Lauder collection of Raphael Tuck & Sons postcards see details...
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Museum Archives

The Leonard A. Lauder Postcard Archive see details...
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Museum Archives

The Leonard A. Lauder Collection of Japanese Postcards see details...

see alsoLauder, Ronald S.